As successful as A24 and Blumhouse Studios have been, no one expected the flameout of M3GAN 2.0 at the box office. The director is taking the heat, but that isn't quite fair.
M3GAN was a massive hit in 2022 for Blumhouse Productions and Universal Studios. With a budget of $12 million, it cleared over $181 million at the box office. Naturally, the pressure was on to repeat or even build on that success.
After all, why settle for one hit movie when you can build a franchise? It's worked for dozens of horror franchises, from the glory days of Universal in the 1930s and '40s through the Saw franchise. Soon, they'll have numbering conventions indistinguishable from the Super Bowl. I can't wait for Halloween XLIX: Michael Files for Bankruptcy. In the meantime, let's see what went wrong with the cash grab known as M3GAN 2.0.
M3GAN 2.0 was doomed from the start
One popular theory for the sequel's weak performance is that it's all the director's fault. Just how much blame can be assigned to director Gerard Johnstone, we'll see. As to the weak performance, there's zero doubt about that. Made on a budget of $25 million, the sequel grossed just under $20.6 million in its first full week. The original grossed $30.4 million on its opening weekend alone. You can see why no one is happy with the return on the sequel.
Here's one of the biggest problems with the statement blaming the director. One rival producer, unnamed in the Hollywood Reporter story, said, "This was not the sequel audiences wanted. It was the movie that the director wanted.” Added another, "They thought they were being all clever changing the dates and the genres.” Um.. sure. I'd love to know who said this, because they must be a terrible producer if they believe the director has that much control over a film.
In the same article, Jason Blum - the guy who actually runs Blumhouse - said the blame could be spread wide. “We all thought Megan was like Superman. We could do anything to her. We could change genres. We could put her in the summer. We could make her look different. We could turn her from a bad guy into a good guy." From killer robot to best buddy worked for The Terminator II, but that's a very tricky act to pull off.
Now, does the director have any control over changing the genre of the film? Do they control the release date? Do they write the script? Every bit of that is in the hands of the producers. Sure, if you're Steven Spielberg or Christopher Nolan, the studio is going to listen to your input. Except that they typically serve as producers on their own films. Gerard Johnstone may be one heck of a director - he did direct the original - but he's not exactly in the stratosphere with those guys.
Yes, it's bold to go in a different direction when making a sequel. Jaws II is a fine film, but it's barely memorable, as it simply hits all the same beats as the original. But you don't want to go completely off the rails, either. Otherwise, you wind up with a terrible misfire like Joker: Folie à Deux. Blum, Johnstone, and co-writer Akela Cooper can take solace that they aren't suffering the hailstorm of criticism created by that fiasco.